JAMAICA’S Gaynstead High defeated Christ Church Foundation from Barbados 37-27 to capture the 2019 America Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) Under-19 Caribbean High School Netball Championship, recently held in St Maarten.

The Gaynstead aggregation, also the defending ISSA Under-19 Senior League champions, ended the six-team, round-robin competition with a perfect win record in five matches. Both teams, Gaynstead and Christ Church, were unbeaten heading into the deciding match.

Latanya Wilson, captain of Gaynstead, was the standout player of the championship, with outstanding performances as goal defence. She also played as centre and as goalkeeper.

Wilson was voted the most valuable player in the match against Christ Church, and was also declared MVP of the championship.

Gaynstead netted 249 goals with 62 against, and their 77-3 win against hosts St Maarten was the highest margin of victory of the tournament.

Dalton Hinds, coach of Gaynstead, said the performance of the team was very good.

“The players are feeling very elated as they are not only representing their school, but also their country. And it is good to come out as champions over our Caribbean opponents, and they played excellently,” Hinds said.

According to coach Hinds, this is also part of the team’s preparation to defend their ISSA Under-19 title.

He praised the manner in which Wilson spearheaded the team.

“Wilson was very excellent in defence in all her matches, mainly at the goal defence position,” Hinds said.

Gaynstead’s first match was against Micoud High School from St Lucia who they comfortably beat 34-14, followed by a convincing 52-11 win against Central Leeward Secondary School from St Vincent.

The Jamaican girls defeated St Joseph’s Convent 49-7 to chalk up their third-straight win.

Gaynstead’s biggest win came against hosts St Maarten Combined Secondary Schools, who they crushed by a 74-goal margin.